Sunday, January 15, 2006

The Times They Are A Changing.......

I made a foreign policy decision in the Middle East that said, we can't tolerate the status quo any longer for the sake of inexpensive energy. In other words, there was a period of time when people said, let's just kind of deal with the situation as it is, sometimes tolerating strong men for a economic objective. I changed our foreign policy that said, that attitude of kind of accepting the things the way they are is going to lead to the conditions that will allow the enemy to continue to breed hatred and find suiciders and soldiers in their attempt to do harm.

Keeping in mind that bin Laden planned 9/11 from Afghanistan and 14 of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia how much has changed in the status quo?LA Times reports today.....

WASHINGTON — Although Saudi Arabia has cracked down on militants within its borders, the kingdom has not met its promises to help prevent the spread of terrorism or curb the flow of money from Saudis to terrorist cells around the world, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and other officials say.

As a result, these critics say, countless young terrorism suspects are believed to have escaped the kingdom's tightening noose by fleeing across what critics call a porous border into Iraq.U.S. military officials confirm an aggressive role by Saudi fighters in the insurgency in Iraq, where over the last year they reportedly accounted for more than half of all Arab militants killed.

And millions of dollars continue to flow from wealthy Saudis through Saudi-based Islamic charitable and relief organizations to Al Qaeda and other suspected terrorist groups abroad, aided by what the U.S. officials call Riyadh's failure to set up a government commission to police such groups as promised, senior U.S. officials from several counter-terrorism agencies said in interviews.

The incident was the latest in a string of brazen attacks that continue to haunt the country four years after the Taliban was ousted from power. In recent weeks, a teacher was beheaded, and numerous other Afghans have been killed in suicide attacks.

The Taliban, whose members are waging an insurgency against international forces and the new democratically elected government, asserted responsibility for Khaksar's killing.SNIPThe killing came on a day of violence throughout southern and eastern Afghanistan, which have been the most dangerous parts of the country in recent years. In the southeastern town of Khost, one person was killed and 40 wounded by two bomb attacks. In the southern province of Helmand, a suicide bomber blew himself up near U.S.-led forces operating in the area, injuring a U.S. soldier. And in the eastern province of Paktia, an Afghan soldier and two suspected insurgents were killed in a clash.